Egypt's dance with democracy bears watching

Mar. 22, 2012

Written by

Gordon Bowen
World View

One of the great conceits of my profession (i.e., political scientist) is the claim made that democracies will never choose to make war on one another. This "Democratic Peace" hypothesis has been treated as proven fact by U.S. presidents ever since Woodrow Wilson explained World War I as a campaign to "make the world safe for democracy."

Recent actions by Egypt's newly elected Parliament challenge this liberal belief. That nation has respected its peace treaty with democratic Israel for more than 30 years. Negotiated and sustained by two military presidents, Generals Anwar Sadat and ...